Gustav shakes up McCain's Republican convention

ST. PAUL (Reuters) - Hurricane Gustav disrupted Republican John McCain's convention on Sunday -- President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney opted out of attending and Republicans considered shortening the event.

"There's very little doubt that we have to go from a party event to a call to the nation for action, " McCain told reporters after visiting a hurricane command center in Jackson, Miss. "I am directing program changes for beginning on Monday night's activities at our convention."

Bush, visiting the Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters in Washington, called the storm "very dangerous" and urged people in the storm zone to heed evacuation orders. He was headed to Texas to oversee the hurricane response.

McCain, who has been harshly critical of Bush's performance during the Katrina hurricane three years ago as a way of distancing himself from the unpopular president, moved quickly to survey emergency preparations.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama was steering clear of making a visit at this point to avoid diverting resources away from the preparations and relief efforts. He declined to criticize McCain.

"I think that with a big storm like this raises bipartisan concerns and I think for John to want to find out what is going on is fine," Obama said in Lima, Ohio.

Obama said if Hurricane Gustav wreaks havoc on the Gulf, he would tap his e-mail network of 2 million donors to seek help for the storm victims.

Republicans were gathering in St. Paul for their four-day convention to formally nominate McCain as their candidate to face Obama in the November 4 election. McCain is scheduled to close their event on Thursday night.

In St. Paul, authorities said they had arrested six people on charges for planning to riot and damage property in several raids on Friday and Saturday.

Police said they found throwing knives, axes, buckets of urine, flammable liquids and a variety of equipment that could be used to block streets and disable vehicles in Minneapolis and West St. Paul.

The hurricane brewing in the Gulf of Mexico and apparently bearing down on New Orleans overshadowed the celebrations. Republican officials were working on making some changes to the convention, possibly shortening the event.

McCain said details of the changes would be released in the next few hours. "We will act as Americans, not as Republicans," he said.

Republican leaders, including McCain himself, say it would be unseemly to be seen celebrating while a natural disaster unfolds 1,100 miles away.

Republican governors from the affected area, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, were unable to attend the St. Paul party.

MCCAIN TO MISSISSIPPI

Bush, whose handling of the 2005 Katrina hurricane was considered miserable by many Americans, was working hard to avoid any repeat of that fiasco.

Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuating the New Orleans area to get away from the storm's predicted impact zone.

The White House said both Bush and Cheney would be unable to attend the convention in order to oversee the federal response to the storm but that Bush will address the delegates via satellite video.

McCain was accompanied by his newly minted vice presidential running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Washington outsider whose surprising selection on Friday stunned the political world.

In an interview on the Fox News Channel, McCain defended Palin against criticism she lacks experience, especially on foreign policy, and should not be a heartbeat away from the presidency.

McCain said Palin, governor less than two years, had been to Kuwait to see her state's National Guard troops.

"She's had 12 years of elected office experience including traveling to Kuwait, including being involved in these issues. I'm so proud that she has displayed the kind of judgment and she has the experience and judgment as an executive," he said.

McCain's wife Cindy McCain said on ABC's "This Week" program that Palin had knowledge about Russia because her state is the closest U.S. state to Russia.

"Remember, Alaska is the closest part of our continent to Russia. So it's not as if she doesn't understand what's at stake here," she said.

(Additional reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky and Donna Smith in Washington and Andy Sullivan in St. Paul, Editing by Howard Goller and Jackie Frank)